Demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy during dabrafenib and trametinib treatment for metastatic melanoma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Melanoma is an aggressive malignancy, historically characterized with a poor prognosis and few treatment options. The advent of target therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors, as well as immunotherapy, changed this scenario and improved the prognosis of patients with BRAF V600E mutation. These therapies are generally well tolerated. Neurological toxicities, especially polyradiculopathy, are very rare with BRAF inhibitors and MEK inhibitors although some cases have been described in recent years, regardless of the type of target therapies combination used. CASE REPORT: We report the case of a patient with BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic melanoma treated with dabrafenib and trametinib who has developed a demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. CONCLUSION: This case, once more, should draw our attention to the possibility of rare, but potentially serious side effects, even in the case of generally well-tolerated treatments. Especially in the presence of side effects, it is important a close relationship between clinicians and patients for the management of adverse events and the choice of the best treatment strategy.

Personalized Systemic Therapies in Hereditary Cancer Syndromes.

Hereditary cancer syndromes are inherited disorders caused by germline pathogenic variants (PVs) that lead to an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer, frequently at an earlier age than in the rest of the population. The germline PVs promote cancer development, growth and survival, and may represent an ideal target for the personalized treatment of hereditary tumors. PARP inhibitors for the treatment of BRCA and PALB2-associated tumors, immune checkpoint inhibitors for tumors associated with the Lynch Syndrome, HIF-2α inhibitor in the VHL-related cancers and, finally, selective RET inhibitors for the treatment of MEN2-associated medullary thyroid cancer are the most successful examples of how a germline PVs can be exploited to develop effective personalized therapies and improve the outcome of these patients. The present review aims to describe and discuss the personalized systemic therapies for inherited cancer syndromes that have been developed and investigated in clinical trials in recent decades.

Predictive factors for relapse in triple-negative breast cancer patients without pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Introduction: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients who do not obtain pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) present higher rate of relapse and worse overall survival. Risk factors for relapse in this subset of patients are poorly characterized. This study aimed to identify the predictive factors for relapse in TNBC patients without pCR after NACT. Methods: Women with TNBC treated with NACT from January 2008 to May 2020 at the Modena Cancer Center were included in the analysis. In patients without pCR, univariate and multivariable Cox analyses were used to determine factors predictive of relapse. Results: We identified 142 patients with a median follow-up of 55 months. After NACT, 62 patients obtained pCR (43.9%). Young age at diagnosis (<50 years) and high Ki-67 (20%) were signi!cantly associated with pCR. Lack of pCR after NACT resulted in worse 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). Factors independently predicting EFS in patients without pCR were the presence of multifocal disease [hazard ratio (HR), 3.77; 95% CI, 1.45-9.61; p=0.005] and residual cancer burden (RCB) III (HR, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.09-9.9; p=0.04). Neither germline BRCA status nor HER2-low expression were associated with relapse. Discussion: These data can be used to stratify patients and potentially guide treatment decision-making, identifying appropriate candidates for treatment intensi!cation especially in neo-/adjuvant setting.

Exceptional response to lurbinectedin and irinotecan in BRCA-mutated platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patient: a case report.

Lurbinectedin is responsible for DNA recognition and binding, producing double-strand DNA (dsDNA) breaks thus resulting in apoptosis. Sensitivity to lurbinectedin is linked to the nucleotide excision repair (NER) system. Furthermore, irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, provokes dsDNA breaks that could be reinforced abrogating the NER system using lurbinectedin. BRCA-mutated patients, already treated with platinum-derived drugs, who suffered DNA damage, cannot repair the breaks due to lurbinectedin interaction, whereas irinotecan provokes a dsDNA break that promotes synthetic lethality. This article describes an exceptional response to lurbinectedin alone followed by the association with irinotecan in a BRCA-mutated platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patient. A 44-year-old BRCA1-mutated ovarian cancer patient was treated in sixth line with lurbinectedin and irinotecan with a time to further progression (TTFP) equal to 8 months. In our case, the association with irinotecan overcame the resistance to lurbinectedin alone. In conclusion, lurbinectedin and irinotecan demonstrated a promising response in platinum-resistant patients. However, further studies should be conducted to validate our findings and future trials will be important to further define the clinical utility of lurbinectedin.

Myocarditis and diaphragmatic rhabdomyolysis with respiratory failure in a patient with metastatic melanoma treated with Nivolumab.

INTRODUCTION: Immunotherapy dramatically changed history of melanoma patients with a clinical benefit never seen before. Nevertheless, severe and unexpected adverse effects can occur, fortunately rarely. CASE PRESENTATION: We reported the case of a 75-year-old male patient affected by metastatic melanoma who developed myocarditis and acute rhabdomyolysis with secondary diaphragmatic dysfunction and consequent pulmonary restrictive syndrome after Nivolumab monotherapy. Blood tests and ultrasonography of the diaphragm revealing left hypokinesis suggested a Nivolumab-related rhabdomyolysis, as an immune-mediated adverse event. The rhabdomylolysis involved the diaphragm with consequent diaphragmatic weakness and respiratory distress. MANGEMENT & OUTCOME: The patient had a slow but slight and progressive improvement of symptoms and vital signs post-treatment with high-dose corticosteroids. DISCUSSION: With this case report, we want to highlight the importance of rapid recognition and treatment of rare and unexpected, but potential serious immune-related adverse events. These events might happen despite the remarkable clinical benefits of immune checkpoint inhibitors. We do not know which patients will benefit from these therapies and why, when and in which cases adverse event will occur: we must not lower our attention.

The Prognostic and Predictive Role of Somatic BRCA Mutations in Ovarian Cancer: Results from a Multicenter Cohort Study.

Previous research involving epithelial ovarian cancer patients showed that, compared to germline BRCA (gBRCA) mutations, somatic BRCA (sBRCA) mutations present a similar positive impact with regard to overall survival (OS) and platinum and PARP (poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) inhibitor sensitivity. Nevertheless, molecular testing in these studies did not include copy number variation (CNV) analyses of BRCA genes. The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic and predictive role of sBRCA mutations as compared to gBRCA mutations in patients who were also tested for CNVs. Among the 158 patients included in the study, 17.09% of patients carried a pathogenic or likely pathogenic gBRCA variant and 15.19% of patients presented pathogenetic or likely pathogenic sBRCA variants and/or CNVs. Overall, 81.6% of the patients included in this study were diagnosed with a serous histotype, and 77.2% were in advanced stages. Among women diagnosed in advanced stages, gBRCA patients showed better progression-free survival and OS as compared to sBRCA and wild-type patients, whereas sBRCA patients did not show any advantage in outcome as compared to wild-type patients. In this study, the introduction of CNV analyses increased the detection rate of sBRCA mutations, and the resulting classification among gBRCA, sBRCA and wild-type patients was able to properly stratify the prognosis of OC patients. Particularly, sBRCA mutation patients failed to show any outcome advantage as compared to wild-type patients.

Clinicopathologic Profile of Breast Cancer in Germline ATM and CHEK2 Mutation Carriers.

The most common breast cancer (BC) susceptibility genes beyond BRCA1/2 are ATM and CHEK2. For the purpose of exploring the clinicopathologic characteristics of BC developed by ATM or CHEK2 mutation carriers, we reviewed the archive of our Family Cancer Clinic. Since 2018, 1185 multi-gene panel tests have been performed. Nineteen ATM and 17 CHEK2 mutation carriers affected by 46 different BCs were identified. A high rate of bilateral tumors was observed in ATM (26.3%) and CHEK2 mutation carriers (41.2%). While 64.3% of CHEK2 tumors were luminal A-like, 56.2% of ATM tumors were luminal B-like/HER2-negative. Moreover, 21.4% of CHEK2-related invasive tumors showed a lobular histotype. About a quarter of all ATM-related BCs and a third of CHEK2 BCs were in situ carcinomas and more than half of ATM and CHEK2-related BCs were diagnosed at stage I-II. Finally, 63.2% of ATM mutation carriers and 64.7% of CHEK2 mutation carriers presented a positive BC family history. The biological and clinical characteristics of ATM and CHEK2-related tumors may help improve diagnosis, prognostication and targeted therapeutic approaches. Contralateral mastectomy should be considered and discussed with ATM and CHEK2 mutation carriers at the first diagnosis of BC.

BRCA mutation rate and characteristics of prostate tumor in breast and ovarian cancer families: analysis of 6,591 Italian pedigrees.

OBJECTIVE: As prostate cancer (PrC) shows a BRCA mutation rate as high as 30%, it becomes crucial to find the optimal selection criteria for genetic testing. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the BRCA mutation rate in families with PrC associated with breast and/or ovarian cancers; secondary aims were to compare the characteristics of families and BRCA-related PrC outcome among BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. METHODS: Following the Modena criteria for the BRCA test, we evaluated the mutation rate in families with breast and/or ovarian cancer with a Gleason score ≥7 PrCs, by testing breast or ovarian cases and inferring the mutation in the prostate cases. The characteristics of families and BRCA-related PrC outcomes were measured using the chi-square (χ2) test and Kaplan-Meier methods, respectively. RESULTS: Among 6,591 families, 580 (8.8%) with a Gleason score ≥ 7 PrCs were identified, of which 332 (57.2%) met the Modena selection criteria for BRCA testing. Overall, 215 breast or ovarian cancer probands (64.8%) were tested, of which 41 resulted positive for BRCA and one for CHEK2 genes (19.5%). No statistically significant differences were found in BRCA-related PrC prognosis and in the characteristics of families among BRCA1, BRCA2 and non-tested patients. Ten of 23 (44%) mutations in the BRCA2 gene fell in the prostate cancer cluster region (PCCR) at the 3´ terminal of the 7914 codon. CONCLUSIONS: It appears the Modena criteria are very useful for BRCA testing selection in families with breast and/or ovarian cancer and PrC. A trend toward a worse prognosis has been found in BRCA2 carriers.

Correlation Between Immune-related Adverse Event (IRAE) Occurrence and Clinical Outcome in Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC) Treated With Nivolumab: IRAENE Trial, an Italian Multi-institutional Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy has brought clinical benefits to patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC). Most patients tolerate immunotherapy but serious immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have been reported. Some studies indicate a correlation between irAEs and clinical response in other cancer types (eg, lung cancer and melanoma). For patients with mRCC, the impact of irAE on clinical outcome is unknown. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of 167 patients with mRCC treated with nivolumab as standard of care between March 2017 and January 2018 in 16 Italian centers was performed. irAEs were assessed using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v.4.0. RESULTS: Any grade and grade 3/4 irAEs occurred in 46% and 8.9% of patients, respectively. The median time to appearance of irAEs was 10 weeks; 38.8% of patients required steroid treatment. The most common irAEs were cutaneous (33.7%) and gastrointestinal (23.3%). The median overall survival and progression-free survival were 20.13 and 7.86 months, respectively. Patients with irAEs showed a greater overall survival (hazard ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-0.63) and progression-free survival (hazard ratio, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.29-0.66) benefit as well as better overall response rate (27.3% vs. 13.7%; odds ratio, 2.36; 95% CI, 1.03-5.44) and disease control rate (68.8% vs. 48%; odds ratio, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.23-4.67) if compared with those without irAEs. No correlation was found between steroid use and clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis revealed that the appearance of irAEs was associated with better outcomes in patients treated with nivolumab. This data may be limited by sample size and the retrospective nature of the study.

Lifestyle Intervention on Body Weight and Physical Activity in Patients with Breast Cancer can reduce the Risk of Death in Obese Women: The EMILI Study.

: Background obesity and sedentary lifestyle have been shown to negatively affect survival in breast cancer (BC). The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a lifestyle intervention on body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (PA) levels among BC survivors in Modena, Italy, in order to show an outcome improvement in obese and overweight patients. METHODS: This study is a single-arm experimental design, conducted between November 2009 and May 2016 on 430 women affected by BC. Weight, BMI, and PA were assessed at baseline, at 12 months, and at the end of the study. Survival curves were estimated among normal, overweight, and obese patients. RESULTS: Mean BMI decreased from baseline to the end of the study was equal to 2.9% (p = 0.065) in overweight patients and 3.3% in obese patients (p = 0.048). Mean PA increase from baseline to the end of the study was equal to 125% (p < 0.001) in normal patients, 200% (p < 0.001) in overweight patients and 100% (p < 0.001) in obese patients. After 70 months of follow-up, the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 96%, 96%, and 93%, respectively in normal, obese, and overweight patients. Overweight patients had significantly worse OS than normal ones (HR = 3.69, 95%CI = 1.82-4.53 p = 0.027) whereas no statistically significant differences were seen between obese and normal patients (HR 2.45, 95%CI = 0.68-8.78, p = 0.169). CONCLUSIONS: A lifestyle intervention can lead to clinically meaningful weight loss and increase PA in patients with BC. These results could contribute to improving the OS in obese patients compared to overweight ones.

Male mammary myofibroblastoma: Two case reports and brief review of literature.

Myofibroblastoma of the breast is a rare benign stromal tumor that occurs in both sexes with a higher prevalence in male breast of older populations. Furthermore, myofibroblastoma can arise in extra mammary sites, along the milk-line. A variety of morphological variants in addition to the classic type have been identified. The differential diagnosis includes both benign and malignant entities that, through the use of clinical and radiological imaging, is difficult to characterize. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry are fundamental in the establishment of appropriate management of the disease and avoidance of overtreatment. The present study focuses on two cases of male mammary myofibroblastoma, with a short literature review.

BRCA Detection Rate in an Italian Cohort of Luminal Early-Onset and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Patients without Family History: When Biology Overcomes Genealogy.

NCCN Guidelines recommend BRCA genetic testing in individuals with a probability >5% of being a carrier. Nonetheless, the cost-effectiveness of testing individuals with no tumor family history is still debated, especially when BRCA testing is offered by the national health service. Our analysis evaluated the rate of BRCA pathogenic or likely-pathogenic variants in 159 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients diagnosed ≤60 years, and 109 luminal-like breast cancer (BC) patients diagnosed ≤35 without breast and/or ovarian family histories. In TNBC patients, BRCA mutation prevalence was 22.6% (21.4% BRCA1). Mutation prevalence was 64.2% ≤30 years, 31.8% in patients aged 31-40, 16.1% for those aged 41-50 and 7.9% in 51-60s. A total of 40% of patients with estrogen receptors (ER) 1-9% were BRCA1 carriers. BRCA detection rate in early-onset BCs was 6.4% (4.6% BRCA2). Mutation prevalence was 0% between 0-25 years, 9% between 26-30 years and 6% between 31-35 years. In conclusion, BRCA testing is recommended in TNBC patients diagnosed ≤60 years, regardless of family cancer history or histotype, and by using immunohistochemical staining <10% for both ER and/PR. In luminal-like early-onset BC, a lower BRCA detection rate was observed, suggesting a role for other predisposing genes along with BRCA genetic testing.

First-Line Treatment for Endocrine-Sensitive Bone-Only Metastatic Breast Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

In the last decade, several clinical trials have investigated novel endocrine combinations for the first-line treatment of hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer. Nevertheless, the use of combinations for the first-line treatment of bone-only disease is widely discussed as a result of its indolent natural history. We performed a comprehensive search of phase 3 randomized clinical trials published in the literature through September 2018. Our aim was to explore the role of the new endocrine approaches in bone-only metastatic breast cancer, suggesting a possible strategy for their selection. In particular, we evaluated the comparative risk of adverse event occurrence during these treatments. A total of 6 studies were deemed suitable for meta-analysis: the Monaleesa-2, Monaleesa-7, Monarch-3, Paloma-2, SWOG, and Alliance trials. Overall, the novel strategies were shown to improve progression-free survival in bone-only disease (hazard ratio = 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.49-0.86; P = .003). Combinations with cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors improved progression-free survival (hazard ratio = 0.54; 95% confidence interval, 0.39-0.75; P < .001) with an acceptable toxicity profile. Abemaciclib was associated with increased anemia and gastrointestinal toxicity (especially diarrhea), whereas palbociclib was associated with increased leukopenia (but not neutropenia) compared to the other compounds. Increased aspartate aminotransferase levels were reported for both ribociclib and abemaciclib. The combination of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy represents an effective and well-tolerated approach for first-line treatment in bone-only disease settings. Because no direct comparison between the 3 cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors is available, the selection of the most appropriate treatment should be based on toxicity profile as well as patient preference and copathologies.

Hereditary Pancreatic Cancer: A Retrospective Single-Center Study of 5143 Italian Families with History of BRCA-Related Malignancies.

The identification of BRCA mutations plays a crucial role in the management of hereditary cancer prevention and treatment. Nonetheless, BRCA-testing in pancreatic cancer (PC) patients is not universally introduced in clinical practice. A retrospective analysis was conducted, firstly, to evaluate the rate of BRCA-positive families among those presenting a family history of PC besides breast and/or ovarian cancer. Secondly, the relationship between BRCA pathogenic variants and PC risk was evaluated. Finally, the characteristics of PC developed in BRCA families were described. Among 5143 family trees reporting breast and/or ovarian cancer cases, 392 showed a family history of PC. A total of 35 families (24.5% selected by the Modena Criteria and 21.3% by the NCCN Criteria) were positive to BRCA testing. Among the BRCA1 mutations, 36.8% were found within a region defined by c.3239⁻c.3917, whilst 43.7% of BRCA2 mutations were located within c.7180⁻c.8248. This study confirmed that an increase in the rate of positive tests in families with PC when associated to breast and/or ovarian tumors. Moreover, this analysis indicated two possible Pancreatic Cancer Cluster Regions that should be verified in future research. Finally, PC in families with breast and/or ovarian cancer history, particularly in BRCA families, were diagnosed at younger age and showed better one-year overall survival.

Spotlight on triptorelin in the treatment of premenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

Endocrine treatment represents the cornerstone of endocrine-sensitive premenopausal early breast cancer. The estrogen blockade plays a leading role in the therapeutic management of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer together with surgery, radiotherapy, and selective antiestrogen treatments. For several years, selective estrogen receptor modulators, such as tamoxifen, have represented the mainstay of therapy. The role of amenorrhea has been extensively elucidated in the past year: the benefit observed with chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea has strengthened its therapeutic role. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) has been introduced in oncology practice to induce amenorrhea in order to increase the advantage obtained from endocrine treatment. Triptorelin is one of the most widely used LHRH analogs currently available in clinical practice. It was recently investigated in two major clinical trials that studied the role of complete estrogen blockade in the premenopausal setting. Both showed the clinical benefit due to ovarian suppression treatment, primarily in high-risk patients. Furthermore, triptorelin and other LHRH analogs have recently been investigated in the attempt to preserve the ovarian function in young patients. The medical treatment of early breast cancer is always evolving in the effort to search for safe and efficacious treatments. The role of LHRH analogs is actually well recognized as contributing to the improvement of the medical treatment of premenopausal women with early breast cancer.

Molecular Biomarkers for Prediction of Targeted Therapy Response in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Trick or Treat?

In recent years, the study of genomic alterations and protein expression involved in the pathways of breast cancer carcinogenesis has provided an increasing number of targets for drugs development in the setting of metastatic breast cancer (i.e., trastuzumab, everolimus, palbociclib, etc.) significantly improving the prognosis of this disease. These drugs target specific molecular abnormalities that confer a survival advantage to cancer cells. On these bases, emerging evidence from clinical trials provided increasing proof that the genetic landscape of any tumor may dictate its sensitivity or resistance profile to specific agents and some studies have already showed that tumors treated with therapies matched with their molecular alterations obtain higher objective response rates and longer survival. Predictive molecular biomarkers may optimize the selection of effective therapies, thus reducing treatment costs and side effects. This review offers an overview of the main molecular pathways involved in breast carcinogenesis, the targeted therapies developed to inhibit these pathways, the principal mechanisms of resistance and, finally, the molecular biomarkers that, to date, are demonstrated in clinical trials to predict response/resistance to targeted treatments in metastatic breast cancer.